Dramatic new images show parched Lake Oroville transformed by California storms

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Lake Oroville, one of the major reservoirs contributing to California’s water supply, is fuller after trillions of gallons of rain saturated the state last month.

The lake was at 68 percent capacity Friday, up from 28 percent just two months earlier, according to status data.

Water levels had fallen to such dangerous levels that in 2021 authorities shut down the reservoir’s hydroelectric power station for the first time since 1967.

But new images captured by Los Angeles Times photographers this month shows a drastic change from dry and cracked river beds that are now full of water.

Lake Oroville is the largest reservoir in the State Water Project, which includes multiple reservoirs and canals that supply water to some 27 million people.

Lake Oroville, one of the major reservoirs contributing to California’s water supply, is significantly fuller after heavy rains saturated the state last month, compared to the image to the right last summer showing low levels of water.

Water levels are rising at Lake Oroville in California after weeks of torrential rain

Lake Oroville reached its lowest point at 628.63 feet on September 30, 2021 and photos showed worsening dry conditions.

But after atmospheric rivers dumped trillions of gallons into the state last month, the lake rose about 189 feet, for an elevation of 817.41 feet.

There was widespread flooding throughout the state of California, but experts say the storms “certainly helped buffer California’s reserves after the three driest years in the state’s recorded history.”

Jeanine Jones, Interstate Resources Manager for the Department of Water Resources, made the statement, but added that it is important to continue conserving supplies. A wet period could be followed by a dry one.

“Over the next couple of months, it’s important that we still see regular showers and snowstorms to maintain an above-average pace for our precipitation totals,” Jones said.

“While this has been a good start, the most important measurement will be on April 1, when snowpack is typically at its highest. Californians must continue to use water wisely so we can have a thriving economy, community and environment.’

One forecast shows that California is equally likely to be wet or dry through April, and Jones says this time will be critical for the state.

“For every day that it doesn’t rain or snow during our wettest months, we’re drying up,” he said. “There remains a lot of uncertainty about the next two months and water managers are maintaining reservoirs to contain as much of the water supply as possible while managing flood control requirements.”

In 2017, Lake Oroville became so full due to heavy rain that it almost overflowed over the Oroville Dam.

As of February 2023, a boat dock is floating at the Spillway Launch Ramp in Lake Oroville. But last summer, the same boat dock was high and dry, only 33 percent full at the time.

Houseboats on the water at Bidwell Canyon Marina on Lake Oroville in February 2023

Less than a year ago, water levels dropped significantly in July 2022

Atmospheric rivers battering California since late last year blanketed the mountains in a full winter’s worth of snow and began raising reservoir levels, but experts have said much more precipitation will be needed to reverse the effects of years of drought.

The mountain’s snowpack that supplies a significant amount of California’s water received an incredible boost from powerful storms in January and began to surpass the state’s wettest season on record.

Sean de Guzman, manager of the department’s snow survey and water supply forecasting unit, said: “Our snowpack is off to an amazing start, and it’s exactly what California needs to help break our ongoing drought. “.

“However, for every day that it doesn’t rain or snow, we gradually return to drier conditions,” he said.

De Guzmán took a hand measurement high in the Sierra Nevada at Phillips Station, south of Lake Tahoe, a spot that demonstrates the varying fortunes of California snow, sometimes buried in white earth and sometimes uncovered.

A nearly empty Lake Oroville is seen from above in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021

The West Branch Feather River Bridge crosses drought-stricken Lake Oroville on July 6, 2022 with scientists calling the megadrought the driest 22-year stretch in more than 1,200 years.

In June 2021, a truck drives on a dirt road along an exposed lake bed, becoming exposed as water recedes in Lake Oroville, which was 33% and 40% full of the historical average

Dried mud and a beached buoy on the bed of Lake Oroville in June 2021 during the drought

His inspection there found a snow depth of 85.5 inches and a water content of 193 percent of the February 1 average for the location.

The enormous layer of snow was left largely by nine atmospheric rivers which lasted from the end of December to mid-January.

The storms dumped 32 billion gallons of rain and snow on the state, allowing state water managers increase water supplies for farms and cities.

Most of California remains in moderate to severe drought, though that’s better than several months ago when much of the state was in extreme or exceptional drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.

The amount of water in the snowpack, technically described as snowwater equivalent, currently exceeds California’s record 1982-83 season, according to the department. But the weather has gotten drier, and only modest systems pass.

DWR Director Karla Nemeth noted that February “is a traditional wet month that actually starts off quite dry” and the drought is forecast to continue.

Nemeth also suggested that the April 1 date is no longer reliable because climate change is changing the timing of maximum snow cover. He also cited recent years in which runoff has decreased dramatically and storm conditions have subsided and have been followed by excessive dry spells.

The storms also caused flooding and landslides. There were at least 20 storm-related deaths and one child remains missing since it was Swept by a swollen creek in San Luis Obispo County.

Storms dumped 32 billion gallons of rain and snow on the state this winter, allowing state water managers to increase water supplies for farms and cities.

The California Department of Water Resources says the water content in snowpack statewide on February 1, 2023 is 205% of normal to date and 128% of the April 1 average, its historic peak

Downtown San Francisco, for example, received almost 13.6 inches of rain from December 26 to January 10. So far this season, snowfall atop the Mammoth Mountain resort in the Eastern Sierra has reached 444 inches.

In the Sierra Nevada and other mountains, the water content of the snowpack is more than 200 percent of normal to date and more than 100 percent of the April 1 average, when it is historically at its highest, according to the state Department of Water Resources. .

Snowpack supplies about one-third of California’s water when it melts and runs off into rivers and reservoirs.

Statewide, reservoir storage is only 82 percent of average for this time of year. The largest reservoir, Shasta, is only 44 percent full. That’s just 70 percent of the average to date. The huge Oroville Reservoir is closer to its average but at only 49 percent capacity.

And there are concerns that the rains could stop abruptly. The end of 2021 was marked by major storms, but the start of 2022 saw months of completely dry weather.

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